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Dear blog… I kind of got busy with life and have neglected you. My daughter is taking a nap so I going to attempt to actually type up a real blog post! (I do mini-blog with photos a couple times a week at: http://www.facebook.com/FunktifiedFood)

Long story short… I bake pizzas and breads once a week and have been using wild yeast starters exclusively since Autumn of 2011 to make all my pizzas. My main starters have yeast strains ‘harvested’ from organic and wild grapes that I made using the directions in this blog written by John Gutekanst aka ‘The Pizza Goon’: http://pizzagoon.com/tag/activating-wild-yeast

I have been working on pizza (and artisan bread) dough recipes for years and trying lots of ingredients and techniques. I have lots of methods that work well but I have realized that not everyone is as crazy as I am and most people want a recipe easily quantified and that require less steps than some of my methods. I have been sharing my starter with friends lately and wanted an easier recipe to give them. I basically start with the ’1:1 flour to starter ratio’ and technique from Pizza Goon Blog with some of my favorite flours and added a little bit of honey and/or malted barley syrup. It works great.

Pizza Dough RECIPE:

First, I leave my starter out for a few hours before using it. (I typically take out as much as I need from the starter, leaving a about 1/4 of the starter typically, replace the amount that I took out [2:1 Flour:Water Ratio], leaving it out for a few hours and putting it in the refrigerator until next week.)

When it is almost mixed add:Dash of sea salt (~1/2 tsp)Splash of olive oil (~tsp)
—Knead for a couple minutes. Let dough rest for 10-15 minutes. Portion off into balls, roll them in your hand until the outer surface is sealed, put in a container, cover with an oiled plastic wrap and put in refrigerator.

If you need a visual for the dough: There is a good video/blog using the same method of making dough HERE.

The slow rise in the fridge will develop flavor and it also does other somewhat magical things to the dough. It will work after a day or two in the fridge but I like it best on days 3, 4, and 5. If you have time, leave the dough out for 30-60 minutes to proof at room temp before you use it (or longer if you are using bigger balls of dough for breads, large loaves will take a few hours to come to room temp). If you don’t have time to leave it out, it will work fairly decently right out of fridge. I dust the dough and my board with a 50/50 mix of semolina and high gluten or spelt flour before rolling out.

I bake thin crust pizzas for 6-8 minutes on a preheated stone at 550. For thicker pizzas, focaccia or cheese bread, I often use cast iron pans for about 12-20 minutes at about 400. I also have used this dough recipe for baguettes and bake for about 15-18 minutes on a baguette pan at 490. If you can’t tell when your pizzas or breads are done… Pizzas are done when the cheese is melted and bottom of crust is lightly browned. Breads are done when the internal temperature is at around 200.